The National Hockey League has been ordered by a judge to turn over reams of data about player injuries and concussions to lawyers representing former NHL players who are suing the league.

The roughly 80 former players who are suing the NHL, including Bernie Nicholls, Gary Leeman and Butch Goring, allege NHL and team executives knew or ought to have known about the links between head trauma and long-term cognitive problems but failed to do enough to protect players, all the while profiting from the violence of hockey.

The NHL has argued interested players could have read medical research and news reports on their own and put “two and two together” about the dangers of repeated head hits and concussions.

In an order released late Friday, U.S. Federal Court judge Susan Nelson agreed to some but not all of the requests for discovery filed by the former players’ lawyers.

As Blues chairman Tom Stillman waited for recipients to show up at a food bank in Jennings on July 21, he talked about the state of the Blues. The answers have been edited for clarity. The questions have been edited to make them more concise.

Q: Is it tough when you have to trade someone like T.J. Oshie, who’s been around this franchise so long?

A: Honestly, that and Barret Jackman’s departure are, on a personal level, difficult for me. It is really a hard part of the business. I’m comfortable we’re doing the right thing for the team and all, but those two individuals in particular are really wonderful people. I am sad to see them go. It’s weird to see how the guys can just be uprooted, especially in a trade. Those two guys, they were always immediately willing to do anything to help. Barret Jackman showed up everywhere. He was at the Mathews-Dickey event last year, he would have been here (at the food bank in Jennings). T.J. Oshie, anything you asked him, he’d say, Sure, I’ll do that. He was the guy that was on his knees taking a picture with a kid. I remember at an away game, they had to pull him out of the autograph line. That’s the kind of guy he is. Personally, it’s the tough side of the business.
Obviously, they’ve both been here a long time, and T.J., we saw him grow up here. You become, not close, but friendly with them. I think a lot of fans have sort of a fatherly or motherly view of some of our younger players who have grown up here, so it’s tough to see.

Q: The NHL recently announced that it could expand beyond 30 teams. Would expansion be a good thing for the league?

A: It remains to be seen. The process is open, there’s no commitment that there will be expansion. There’s a long way to go and the league will take a very careful look at it and make sure it’s the right thing on a macro sense for the league and any market candidate will be looked at very carefully. The league is really healthy, it’s hitting on all cylinders. I don’t think it’s ever been stronger, and looking forward to some of the things they have coming down the pike, rather it’s new sponsorship deals, a new level of interest from a number of people, there’s just a lot of things going on.

The Penguins' five highest-paid players — Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby, Phil Kessel, Kris Letang and Marc-Andre Fleury — will make $38 million next season. That will fill 53.2 percent of the $71.4 million salary cap.

Add in the other 17 or 18 players on the 23-man roster — even after the Penguins shed third-line center Brandon Sutter and his $3.3 million salary in a trade with Vancouver on Tuesday — and the team is bumping its head on the salary ceiling.

The only teams that will allocate more than half of their cap space to their top five players are the Penguins and Chicago Blackhawks, who are fresh off a Stanley Cup with star forwards Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews making eight figures.

On the surface, that might sound like the Penguins and Blackhawks are in an untenable position. A closer look tells a different tale.

First, top-heavy salary structures are common in the NHL. Sixteen of the league's 30 teams allocate between 40 and 48 percent of their cap space to five top players.

The past two seasons were the worst in Sabres history, so it'd be easy to say things can't get worse, but the arrival of the No. 2 pick in the 2015 NHL Draft, Boston University center Jack Eichel, has changed the attitude here.

Eichel's arrival, coupled with the eventual debut of forward Evander Kane, who didn't play for the Sabres after he was acquired in a trade from the Winnipeg Jets on Feb. 11 (elbow surgery); center Ryan O'Reilly, acquired from the Colorado Avalanche on June 26; and coach Dan Bylsma, has the Buffalo fan base hopeful the organizational rebuild will bring results on the ice.

The Sabres will have a young and talented group of forwards to try to lift an offense that scored an NHL-low 158 goals last season. The addition of Eichel, Kane and O'Reilly to Tyler Ennis and Zemgus Girgensons gives Buffalo a youthful core. If Sam Reinhart, the No. 2 pick in the 2014 NHL Draft, makes the roster, it would make the Sabres that much younger and add another potential scorer.

- This is the perfect kind of hiring for the Phoenix Coyotes: They have brought in the respected hockey operations consultant, Claude Loiselle — and the best part of it, from the Coyotes end — is they don’t have to pay him. The Leafs are still paying Loiselle for two more seasons after letting him go last July.

- The Leafs must relinquish two third-round picks as compensation for the signings of general manager Lou Lamoriello and coach Mike Babcock. For a team trying to rebuild with drafting and developing, that’s a heavy blow. What’s worse — Babcock’s contract was up in Detroit and Lamoriello replaced himself as GM in New Jersey. There was no reason for compensation in either case. The sooner this ridiculous compensation rule goes away in the NHL, the better.

- Barring a trade between now and September, the Leafs will open camp with their top centres as either Tyler Bozak and Nazem Kadri. New GM. New coach. Same old centres.

- Little more than a year ago, Sergei Berezin, the former Maple Leaf, became certified as an NHL player agent. This week, Berezin had his agent status suspended by the NHL Players’ Association.

The suspension came after Berezin and his wife were arrested in South Florida, for Medicaid fraud. While living in a mansion in Boca Raton, it turns out the Berezins, according to police, were making insurance claims indicating they had no income at all. The claims, over a two-year period, were for more than 50,000 US.

Berezin secured his first NHL client last year when he represented veteran Montreal defenceman Andrei Markov. In fact, Berezin did well getting Markov a three-year extension at just under $6 million a season. It isn’t known if he has added other clients to his business since then.

Undoubtedly, the NHLPA will look further into the Berezin situation while the agent remains under suspension. The PA has strict regulations regarding illegalities. There is no word of when the Berezin matter will go to court or when the PA will further act in this case.

I don’t expect the NHLPA and Kings are negotiating settlement. The NHLPA is unlikely to accept the termination of Richards contract in any form. For the NHLPA, it simply cannot allow this precedent to stand as it could adversely impact its members. By allowing the termination to go unchallenged, the floodgates risk opening with teams terminating problem contracts. ‘He’s fat, cut him. He’s slow, cut him.’ Ultimately, expect the NHLPA to see this case as far too important an event and precedent to go unopposed.

-Eric Macramalla at Forbes on the LA Kings/Mike Ricards situation. Much more at Forbes.

In September, Noah Hanifin will try the hardest thing he’s done as a hockey player. The Norwood native will report to Traverse City, Mich., to play in the Red Wings’ annual eight-team rookie tournament. The 18-year-old will then graduate to Carolina’s main camp.

The two components will help determine whether Hanifin will make his NHL debut on Oct. 8. Most 18-year-olds are still asking their mothers to wash their dirty socks, not battling men with mortgages.

“If he’s ready to play, he’ll be in our lineup come October,” said Hurricanes general manager Ron Francis. “If he needs more time, we’ll do what we have to do to help in that regard, as well. We want what’s right for Noah.”

Hanifin, who left three years at Boston College on the table by turning pro, will have to fight for his first NHL paycheck. He’ll be competing for ice time against older teammates such as Ron Hainsey. In 2002, when Hainsey made his NHL debut, Hanifin was five years old.

But if anything ensures Raleigh as Hanifin’s landing spot instead of Charlotte, the Hurricanes’ AHL affiliate, it is the way he moves.